


Caroline's First Day (Of the Rest of Her Life)

by rianess



Category: Green Wing
Genre: Drinking, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Homophobic Language, One Night Stands, Swearing, Unplanned Pregnancy, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 02:18:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20400061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rianess/pseuds/rianess
Summary: What if Caroline had met Mac before her first day?





	Caroline's First Day (Of the Rest of Her Life)

Caroline Todd, the soon-to-be surgical registrar at East Hampton Hospital, sighed as she dragged her bag over to the lift in the hotel she would be staying at, for the next few days. She began her new post on Monday, but had arrived on Friday evening, with the hope that she could settle into her new house over the weekend. Unfortunately, it now turned out that she couldn’t get the keys until Tuesday, so she’d had to find somewhere to stay in the meantime. This also meant that she had nothing to do all weekend, other than worry about her first day and how difficult it would be, starting a new job. She was already stressed, as she’d heard from her ex-boyfriend on Facebook about how happy he was with his tiny, blond girlfriend, the woman he’d left her for, so once she got to her room, she decided to take a quick shower, and then head down to the bar to drown her sorrows.

It was already nine o’clock when she reached the bar, but since she had nothing to do tomorrow, she really didn’t think it would matter if she got properly smashed. At least it might take her mind of her woes.

She got to the bar and smiled winsomely, she hoped, at the barman. “A small Pinot Grigio, please,” she ordered and put her purse down on the bar to wait. Suddenly, she heard a suave voice from next to her.

“Good choice, celebrating or commiserating?” The man next to her asked. He was sat on the stool nursing what looked like a pint of bitter. He had on good quality clothes, which he wore with an air of scruffy elegance, strawberry blond, shaggy hair, and beautiful grey eyes.

Caroline felt a bit flustered but smothered the feeling. This man was a total stranger, so he had no preconceived ideas about her. She was also very unlikely to see him ever again, so she felt a certain boldness which was totally alien to her.

“A bit of both, I guess,” she said in a questioning tone.

“Why both?” He asked.

“Well, my ex has been blasting the news about his simply _wonderful_ girlfriend everywhere, but then he was a total cheating arse, so at least she’s his problem now, and I don’t have to listen to him proclaim how fucking fantastic he is.”

The man laughed and held out his hand to shake. “I’m Mac, and you are?”

“Caroline,” she answered, smiling and he shook her hand with a warm, but firm grip.

“So, you’re here to take your mind off it?” He wanted to know.

“That and to congratulate myself on escaping him!” She laughed and he joined in.

“Well, I,” She was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. Her ringtone just happened to be one of her favourite songs by The Kinks – _Lola_. Her phone loudly sung, “_I met her in a club down in old Soho/Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like Coco Cola...” _She blushed and snatched up her phone, completely oblivious to the increased interest on the face of her male companion.

“Hi Mum,” she began, and walked a few steps away.

* * *

Mac was delighted at the turn his evening had taken. He’d been forced to come here tonight and eat dinner in the hotel with a bunch of stuffy suits from the hospital board. Really not his idea of a good time, but if he ever wanted to be a consultant, he couldn’t afford to offend them. So, he’d schmoozed and laughed at their awful jokes, trying not to choke on his meal.

He’d slipped away to the bar while they were sat around in what looked to be the modern equivalent of port and cigars. He figured he’d have a quick drink in the bar and go home for a reasonably early night.

He’d barely sat down, when a dark-haired woman, with the most interesting eyes had slunk in and ordered a glass of wine. And in short order, he already knew that she was single, and was a fan of The Kinks.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Caroline wasn’t normally embarrassed by her love of The Kinks, but she felt strangely bashful around this man. Her earlier confidence was a distant memory. Once she’d reassured her mum that everything was fine, and that she’d be able to get into her brother’s house on Tuesday, Caroline managed to escape the call mostly unscathed, and she returned to the bar and the intriguing stranger.

“I’m so sorry about that, my mum – she,”

Here he cut her off with a warm smile, “Not to worry, isn’t that what mums do? Interrupt and such?”

Caroline laughed and nodded, “Very true,” she agreed.

“So, I was dragged here tonight with a bunch of boring fellas from work,” Caroline gave him an exaggerated look of sympathy and he laughed, then went on, “well, I managed to give them the slip, so I was wondering if you’d keep me company? We can commiserate and celebrate together.”

She considered it for a moment, and then scolded herself. This was exactly the kind of thing she should be doing – enjoying herself and not turning down offers from handsome strangers. Well, as long as they’re not axe murderers. But they were in a well-lit, public place, so she felt pretty safe.

So, she raised her glance to indicate a toast. “You’re on!” She declared, and he obligingly clinked his glass with hers.

“So,” he began, “you a big Kinks fan then?”

The next morning, Caroline woke with a start. She was tired, achy and couldn’t remember precisely what had happened. Then she suddenly realised she was completely naked, and she gasped, clutching the duvet to her breast.

“Oh God, no…” she trailed off, trying to recall the night before. And then it hit her, Mac, the handsome stranger and their shared love of The Kinks. She was furious with herself – she was not the one-night stand kind of girl, and yet, a pair of gorgeous, grey eyes and she was clearly lost. Her knickers just seemed to fly off.

She glanced around but could tell he’d already left. It was obvious he’d woken and been horrified by what, or rather, _who_, he’d done the night before. Caroline put her head in her hands and felt like crying. She dragged herself out of bed and went to the bathroom. On the back of the door she found a complimentary dressing gown, and she shrugged that on. She contemplated a nice hot bath, to soothe her aching muscles, but decided against it, for the moment anyway.

After using the loo, she shuffled out of the bathroom and went to the table by the window, with half a mind to see if there was room service here. She hadn’t asked last night, but she didn’t feel like showing her face downstairs just now.

On the table, there was a handwritten note on the hotel’s stationary. It read: “_Caroline, I’m so sorry for just disappearing this morning. I got a call about an emergency at work. I had a wonderful time last night, Mac.”_

Caroline scoffed, thinking, ‘sure, an emergency at work, on a Saturday, yeah right. Didn’t leave his number I see, can’t have had_ that_ good a time.’

She contemplated last night and the possible ramifications of it. Perched on the end of her hotel bed, she decided that she had nothing to be ashamed of. She had met a seemingly nice man in a hotel bar, and had proceeded to share a night of rather good and satisfying sex with him. So what if he had rushed off this morning? She knew she had done nothing wrong, and it may just be that he really did have an emergency to get to. Yes, she would have liked if he’d left her a way to contact him, but the reality was that he hadn’t and now she just had to live with it.

That decided, she went back to the bathroom, having come to the conclusion that a nice, long soak would be just the thing. It would help her sore muscles and help settle her mind.

After all, she would be starting a new job, and moving into a new house in a few days. Might as well relax while she could.

(If only she knew how complicated her life was about to get, and that she would be seeing the mysterious ‘Mac’ sooner, rather than later.)

* * *

After finding her space with the help of the parking attendant, Caroline stopped, took a deep breath, and made her way into the hospital to start her first day. She was feeling both excitement and trepidation, which made for an odd feeling in her stomach. But at least she was well rested, having spent the last few days in and around the hotel she was still staying in, so she was feeling hopeful as she entered the lobby.

Hearing what a blonde woman was saying to a scared looking man in a white coat was not encouraging, however.

“If you see the new bitch, snap off her fingers, burn her hair, and pluck out her nipples!”

She was so shocked by this; she barely registered a familiar shock of hair. By the time she regained her senses, the person she thought she recognised was gone, and she dismissed it as her mind playing tricks on her. She stopped to talk to the man who still looked a bit perturbed.

“Are you alright?” She asked him with a grimace.

He suddenly looked rather nonchalant. “Oh yeah, yeah, there’s a new, a new female doctor coming today,” he said, gesturing as if that explained everything. “That’s all.” He added, walking off in another direction.

Caroline headed off to try and find where she was supposed to be. So far, the people here seemed right odd.

* * *

She ended up in the lift with the head of Human Resources, listening to her blather on about claiming Caroline to be Asian for her statistics, wondering whether the woman knew she was being offensive and was doing it on purpose, or whether she was just one of those people not suited to the job they were doing. After a brief tour, she was sent to Security to get her id tag, and ended up meeting the Staff Liaison Officer, a rather eccentric woman called Sue White.

After she’d taken Caroline’s photo, Sue took her down towards the surgical unit. As they were walking down the corridor, a very familiar figure in green scrubs was jogging towards them. Caroline’s jaw dropped, of all the places to run into him again, if even at all, – this she had not expected!

She managed to close her mouth before anyone noticed. Or at least if they did, no one remarked on it. She looked at Mac as Sue introduced them, and saw a flash of recognition in his eyes, which he quickly covered up as he carried on collecting the things he seemingly needed from the shelves he was bent over.

“Ah, Doctor Macartney, sorry to intrude, I know you’re busy, but this is Henry’s new surgical registrar, Caroline Todd. This,” Sue indicated with a wave of her hand, “is Doctor Macartney.”

Caroline smothered the urge to blurt out, ‘I know, I spent some time under him on Friday night’, knowing it was unhelpful, unprofessional and not really that funny. And anyway, he was reaching out his hand to greet her. If he wanted to play it like they’d never met, that was fine with her, in fact it probably was for the best. Hospitals are notorious for their melodrama and gossip.

“Hi, Mac,” he smiled and shook her hand, “call me Mac.”

She shook his hand and didn’t say anything. Not trusting herself to not say something rather inappropriate.

“Impeccable timing though,” Mac continued before she would have got a word in anyway. “Cos we’re a pair of hands down on a routine hernia operation.”

“Woah there,” Sue cut in, “she hasn’t had her pager yet.” She protested.

Mac just brushed it aside. “Well, then, that’s good, because she won’t be paged halfway through the operation.”

Sue continued to disagree with him. “What about her id tags, thought about that?”

Mac jogged round the shelves and stopped in front of Caroline. “Yep, I can vouch for her id,” he looked into Caroline’s eyes, “you definitely look like a doctor, yep, dilate pupils, no sense of humour, and err,” he paused to sniff her. “What is it you smell of, is that, hotel soap?”

Caroline wasn’t sure if she should be offended or not, but with the pervasive weirdness of this second meeting between them, in such an awkward situation, she decided there and then not to judge him. She was actually quite impressed he managed to maintain the impression he’d never seen her before.

“He’s terrible!” Sue said, laughing as Mac rushed off to grab some scrubs and threw them at her.

“Come on,” he encouraged, and she looked over at the liaison officer.

_‘Go, go’ _Sue gestured, and Caroline decided just to role with it, Mac was already off down the corridor and Caroline had to run to catch up with him. He impatiently wafted her through the doors into theatre, and suddenly Caroline had the urge to rethink her career in medicine.

* * *

“Ok, let’s sew this mother up,” Mac said, and Caroline caught his eyes over the operating table. She wasn’t sure if she should say something or not. This seemed like quite a relaxed theatre, judging by the back and forth between Doctor Macartney and the anaesthetist, whose name she hadn’t caught. She decided to wade in and throw caution to the wind.

“Sorry if I seem a bit stressed out, I didn’t sleep very well last night”. Which was true, she was nervous about today and couldn’t seem to settle. She went on, “mind you, I did have a rather disturbing lesbian dream.” She told him, not entirely sure why she was doing so, however.

“Bingo,” said a gratified voice, and up popped the anaesthetist whose name she didn’t know.

Mac gave a loud sigh, and said, resignedly, “Would you like to talk about it, or…?”

“I don’t really remember it,” Caroline answered honestly.

“Make it up?” Mac offered quietly and Caroline gave him an unimpressed look.

“Positions, numbers?” Insisted the anaesthetist, and Mac echoed him.

“Were they shaved?” They both asked and she wanted to smack them both.

She didn’t, and instead said, “Perhaps I could try and have another one tonight, take a few notes, bring them in for you tomorrow?”

“Can you draw?” the anaesthetist asked, and she heard Mac chuckle. She decided to just ignore them when she heard the other one betting Mac that he couldn’t name five famous lesbians.

* * *

With the operation over, the anaesthetist was still in theatre, monitoring the patient, while she and Mac were scrubbing down. She glanced sideways at him and found herself just blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

“So, when you said emergency at work, you actually meant it.” She murmured and she saw his eyebrows shoot up.

He chuckled awkwardly, “yeah, someone called in sick and they, well anyway.” He explained, equally quietly, and cleared his throat, and carried on scrubbing.

After a moment, he spoke again, still softly. Neither of them really wanted to be overheard. “I meant what I said – about having a good time I mean,” he added when she frowned. Her face cleared and seemingly encouraged, he went on, “I wanted to, ah, get your number, but got so caught up in – well – I forgot. And then in the morning I was in such a rush, I didn’t think to – well, you know.” He stumbled through what he was trying to say, and Caroline found it oddly endearing.

Gone was the uber suave man she had met in the hotel bar.

“Yeah, me too, but um, same thing. And in the morning, w – I,” she didn’t finish her sentence, as she didn’t want to sound like she was accusing him of anything.

“I don’t uh, well, normally I wouldn’t have – uh – so quickly I mean,” he hedged, and she knew exactly what he meant.

“Oh, me neither,” she cut in, and he went on.

“That’s not to say that I regret, um, anything.” He paused to collect himself, and she couldn’t help flashing him a radiant smile.

“Oh, me neither,” she repeated, and he looked pleased.

“So, I was wondering if we could meet maybe, and…” before he had a chance to ask her out, or at least that what she hoped he was going to do, she felt a large hand slap her shoulder and turned her head to see the anaesthetist had joined them. Mac too, was wincing from his own apparent smack to the shoulder. The man was leaning on both of them and had pushed himself between them.

“What are you two whispering about?” he demanded, rudely.

Mac looked annoyed. “What an unremitting twat you are, of course,” he said, and stormed off.

The other man, raced after him, protesting his innocence, and nearly ran into the back of him, when Mac suddenly stopped.

He turned and said, “I’m so sorry, Doctor Todd. We’re just off to the canteen, want to come with?” he asked, and the anaesthetist’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, yes, do join us. Always nice to have a bit of totty while you’re eating!” he declared, and Caroline got the distinct impression that she was supposed to be flattered.

She saw Mac rolling his eyes amusedly, and just nodded. Both men turned and carried on down the corridor.

* * *

When they got to the canteen, she followed them to the hot food line, collecting a tray en route.

“I am starving,” said the anaesthetist, who’s name had turned out to be Dr Guy Secretan – swiss, his name was, according to him. “They never give you decent portions here,” he claimed.

“No, they do,” Mac protested, “You just have to be nice. If you flatter them, you’ll have more food on your plate than you can ever deal with. It’s very simple.”

Caroline took note of this, while Guy seemed to have forgotten she was there, or even that they were in public and he was speaking out loud.

“How do you flatter a woman like that? _‘Nice overall. Ooh, what an alluring scent of fat. I’ve always admired career women, such as yourself’._”

Caroline was horrified and gave the woman working behind the counter an apologetic look. She wished she felt confident enough to give Guy a whack round the head.

“Yeah, that’ll do, yeah.” Mac said sarcastically, looking round as if he was searching for an escape route.

He caught Caroline’s eyes and she mouthed, ‘_is he for real?’. _Mac nodded gravely. He then turned back to the canteen lady, who had just finished serving another customer.

“What can I get you, love?” She asked Mac, and he turned a charming smile on her.

“Hello, hello,” he greeted her cheerfully. “Um, well, ooh, crikey. The chilli looks fantastic, as ever. Still, the steak and kidney pie looks tremendous, as ever. You’re spoiling us today, as ever.”

Caroline looked away so the woman wouldn’t see her repressing a laugh. Guy looked singularly unimpressed. He carried an air of entitlement with him that she knew probably did him no favours.

“I could do you a bit of both, if you want?” the canteen worker offered, and Mac looked delighted.

“Could you, could you?” He gave here another boyish smile, and she smiled back at him, indulgently.

Caroline wondered if she should be taking notes.

After watching Guy receiving very short shrift indeed from the canteen staff, all of them, that is, Caroline attempted to apologise for him, but they waved it aside. She noticed the boys were standing a few paces away, waiting for her apparently, and she hurried herself up. Everyone was very friendly, commenting that they’d heard a new doctor was coming and it was nice to meet her.

She decided that if she followed Mac’s example, when it came to interaction with the other staff, she couldn’t really go wrong.

* * *

Arriving back at her hotel room that evening, Caroline collapsed on the bed with a gusty sigh. All in all, it wasn’t terrible, as first days went. Seeing Mac again was bloody crazy, but also good, because he seemed to maybe be interested in continuing their, well… interested in seeing her again, anyway, which is new for her, and rather flattering.

She recalled the conversation over lunch, where she’d briefly mentioned her issue of not being able to move into her new house until tomorrow and was surprised at the speed of which Guy had offered for her to sleep at his flat. He claimed that she was on nights and wouldn’t be there. But Mac immediately contradicted him and said that Guy wasn’t on nights at all, and they actually had plans to go for a drink after work.

Caroline had just rolled her eyes and politely declined Guys offer, stating that she would be staying at the hotel she spent last night in. From this, Guy ‘deduced’ that she had only arrived yesterday. She repressed the urge to share a secretive look with Mac, knowing how revealing that would be, and confirmed Guy’s ‘deduction’.

She had also turned down the offer of joining them for drinks, claiming, honestly this time, that she was shattered and wanted to get an early night.

Talk about an emotional rollercoaster of a day.

In what she would later learn was typical Guy fashion, before she left that evening, he reminded her of her earlier promise to take notes, should she have another lesbian dream tonight.

* * *

The next week or so was something of a blur for Caroline.

Work was fairly routine but trying to find her way in this new hospital, with its huge number of staff and seemingly endless corridors, was challenging. On the plus side, she had sort of made friends with the angry blonde from the first day, Dr Angela Hunter, who was a paediatric registrar. Angela had also explained what the whole rant in the lobby was about, and she and Caroline shared an eye roll over the immaturity of men in general, and Mac specifically.

As for Mac, well, he still seemed to be interested. There was low level of flirting going on, and their attraction was simmering away happily, under the surface, but they never seemed to get any time alone to talk, or even make plans.

For some reason, whenever they got a moment to themselves, either Guy, or Sue White just popped up out of thin air. Caroline was beginning to suspect a conspiracy, to keep them apart. It worried her, because this thing with Mac, whatever this thing was, was very new and barely even hobbling along. This kind of interference could kill it before it had even begun. And it made her wonder if Guy and Sue had noticed her interest in Mac and that why they were behaving this way.

Added, to that, she was especially busy just now as she had been interviewing lodgers to help with the rent on her house. She’d had some ghastly applicants so far, and she was beginning to lose heart.

* * *

During her second week at the hospital, she was busy trying to pin a notice up, looking for a lodger amongst the staff, when one of the junior doctors, Boyce, interrupted her.

“Oh, err, if you see a really pretty blonde girl, about five-seven, green eyes, slightly foreign accent, can you tell her I’ve gone to radiology?” he asked.

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Caroline said distractedly, still trying to fasten her notice to the board. “What’s her name?” she asked, turning to look at him.

“I’ve no idea,” he replied cheerfully, “she might not even exist, but you know, just in case!”

Caroline assumed he thought he was funny.

He began to walk away, when he stopped and turned to read her notice. “Oh, are you looking for a lodger?”

“Yeah,” Caroline told him. “All I’ve had so far are loonies. I thought I’d see if the staff her are bit more normal. You know, ten fingers, no fur. Why are you interested?”

“Nah,” he demurred, “but I know someone who will be,” he tapped another notice, “look, ‘_desperately seeking accommodation’.”_

Caroline squinted at it. “Ah, Angela.” She pondered the idea for a moment. Normally, a woman like Angela, beautiful, blonde, confident, would intimidate her, and she would do her best to keep her at arm’s length. But something was different this time. She didn’t want to put it all down to Mac, but she had to admit, he was a big part of it.

“Oh great,” she said, taking down her notice and looking at Boyce.

“Do you want me to track her down for you?” He offered.

“Yeah, I mean, I’ll probably see her later, but I want to ask her first, before putting this back up.” She gestured with the notice she had just removed.

“Cool, I’ll tell her you’re looking for her. You’ll be where?”

“In the mess.”

* * *

Angela caught up with her barely a quarter of an hour later, and they fixed a time for her to come and see the room.

At lunch time, she sat down at a table with Mac and Guy, just hearing the tail end of their conversation.

“Interesting, that’s interesting.” For a moment, she was tempted to ask what was interesting, but decided against it. She really didn’t want to know what might be lurking in Guy’s sick mind.

And yet…

“Caroline, I hear you might be moving in with Angela!” Guy declared, “will there be naked pillow fights, will you be giving each other Brazilians, or are you just completely shaved?”

Caroline looked down at her lunch, suddenly feeling nauseous. She dropped her fork with a clatter and sighed.

“She’s just coming to look at the room, and if she does move in, any shenanigans – well, it’s simply none of your business!” She declared, getting up and storming away.

As she was walking away, she faintly heard Mac saying, “Yeah mate, she really wants you,” sarcastically.

* * *

Angela had loved the room and the rest of the house, and they’d now been sharing quite successfully for a few weeks. It was then that Angela had suggested they have a housewarming party.

Caroline was in two minds about it. She hadn’t been feeling great, these last few days. She thought she may have come down with something, but she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t enough for her to miss work, she didn’t think she was contagious, but all the same. She didn’t think she really wanted a house full of drunken strangers. She’d only been at the hospital for six weeks or so and didn’t really know that many people.

She said as much to Angela, over breakfast. “What if, nobody comes?”

“Why wouldn’t they?” Her housemate asked.

“Well, I haven’t been here that long, and I’m not exactly Miss Popular.” Caroline said despondently.

“Don’t be silly,” Angela protested. Then she smiled impishly. “And anyway, I am!” Caroline threw a bit of toast at her and they shared a laugh.

“What are you going to wear?”

Angela thought for a moment, “I hadn’t considered, hmm… I probably have something new in the cupboard.” She sipped her coffee and sat back, unconcerned.

“Something new in – you do that, buy things in advance?” Caroline was amazed.

“Yes, I often pick up odd outfits on my days off.” Angela explained. “What about you?”

“Well, I’ve got plenty of odd outfits,” Caroline said with a smile. She clinked her glass of orange juice with Angela’s coffee mug.

Just lately, the taste of coffee had been turning her stomach.

Invitations went out, even to the girls in HR after one of them had rescued Caroline after she got a pen top stuck up her nose. Caroline wondered if the woman, Harriet, she later found out, might be able to help her find her misplaced dignity.

Anyway, it was the night of their housewarming party, and so far, hardly anyone was there. She tried to remind herself that it was pretty early, and not to worry that no one wanted to come. Angela may have been joking when she said she was very popular, but it was actually the truth. Caroline didn’t mind. In fact, it was actually helping her come out of her shell, somewhat. For all that Angela was the type of woman who tormented Caroline at school and university, that was only on the surface. Underneath she was a genuinely good person, and once Caroline engaged her with sincerity, she had done the same in return.

Caroline was dead chuffed with herself, she reckoned that showed personal growth.

She took a sip of her drink and tried not to fidget with nerves. She was not drinking alcohol tonight, as her tummy was still a bit edgy. So, she had a glass of non-alcoholic wine, cleverly disguising the fact that she wasn’t drinking. She had been at enough parties where she’d been pressured to drink more than was safe, and she wasn’t confident enough in herself not to be a push over when stressed. She’d told Angela she wasn’t drinking, and why, and though she had given her a funny look, she’d promised not to say anything or to make a big deal out of it.

Caroline was far too on edge to try and interpret said funny look, so she had just smiled and retired to the cleared living room to wait and pace.

* * *

About half an hour later, she was talking to Angela’s boyfriend in the living room when she heard Guy’s voice. Predictably, he was being rude to all and sundry, making unsavoury remarks to all the people around him. And not just the women.

Later on, she spoke briefly with Mac, but he was dragged away by Sue White. Caroline couldn’t remember actually inviting her, but figured it wasn’t worth getting into an argument over it. Mac had a look of desperation about him, like he wanted to be rescued, but she knew when to pick her battles and went off to talk to some more people. The illusion that she was drinking allowed her to be a bit silly and stumble over her words without people judging her harshly.

She let herself be talked into dancing, and here the drunk illusion helped too, because she never really knew what to do with herself on the dancefloor. So, she just went for it, and ended up rather enjoying herself. That was, until Guy decided he wanted to do some kind of looming dance over her shoulder. She panicked momentarily and tried to find a way out of this. He kept moving from side to side and trying to keep up with him was making her feel dizzy.

He moved in front of her and leaned in even more. She really started to worry now. He probably thought she was drunk, and he could get away with trying to snog her, or something. She didn’t notice Mac watching them very carefully from the other side of the room, a scowl breaking out over his face.

Guy slid his hand over her side, and onto her back, and started to dip her, as in a dance. The backwards movement was enough to set her off, and she flew forwards, vomiting violently all over his front.

“Oh, fucking hell!” He practically screamed, and Mac swooped in.

He put his arm around her and said, “OK, I think you’ve had enough, let’s get you up to the bathroom.” He started leading her out of the room, and Guy shouted behind them.

“What about me, these clothes are ruined! They’re bloody expensive too!” He declared, making a motion as if to wipe himself down, and then stopping, not wanting to get her vomit on his hands.

“I’ll pay for dry cleaning!” Caroline managed to say over her shoulder, but it came out a bit garbled.

Mac was hurrying her along, probably worried about being vomited on as well, and said, “Don’t worry about that, he knew the risks manhandling a drunken woman.”

Caroline protested, “I’m not drunk, I just…” she trailed off as she started to feel faint. She slid down a bit in Mac’s grasp, and he hooked his arms under hers.

“OK, come on, time for bed I think.”

Caroline tried to insist that she wasn’t drunk, but he wasn’t having any of it. She decided not to bother protesting any more, because she did feel pretty rough, and she was sleepy. She thought she might even be able to sleep through all the noise.

Fortunately, the coats had all been put in Angela’s room, and Caroline had locked her own door, so when she fished out the key and gave it to Mac, he opened the door to her pristine and people free bedroom.

“Not how I’d imagined us in your bedroom, alone, but hey ho,” he muttered, and she snickered.

With brisk efficiency, he got her up onto her bed, shoes off and tucked under the covers.

“Thanks Mac,” she smiled, and he stroked her hair tenderly.

“You’re welcome, Caroline.”

And then he left.

* * *

The following day, she walked slowly into the lobby, still feeling sick, despite having thrown up twice this morning. She was definitely ill and wondered if she should see a doctor. Angela hadn’t been around when she left this morning, so she hadn’t had a chance to discuss it with her.

Unfortunately, the first person she saw when she walked in, was Mac. She really didn’t want to discuss more vomiting with him. She was only thankful that it wasn’t him she’d been sick all over.

He made some crack about her being drunk the night before, and she really didn’t have the energy to correct his assumptions. She was plucking up the courage to ask for a consultation when Martin interrupted them. Instead of persisting, she decided it would be much better to just go and find Angela, or one of the others.

When she found Angela, she didn’t get a chance to consult her, because the other woman was in such a rush. Remembering something her housemate had said the day before, and always wanting to be helpful, Caroline offered to take a personnel form Angela had to drop off, down to HR.

The other woman thanked her and dashed off to deal with a screaming patient in cubicle three. As she had done several times before, Caroline thanked whoever was listening that she hadn’t gone into paediatrics.

When she got down to HR, she was about to knock, when she heard Harriet exclaiming, “OH NO! Oh, I’m pregnant!”

Alarm bells started going off in her head, and her breathing got very rapid. In her confusion, Caroline spied an in tray, dropped off Angela’s form, and made a speedy exit, before anyone noticed her.

* * *

Caroline was currently sitting in the ladies toilets, holding a sample cup, and wondering how her life had led her to this. Well, she knew how it had happened, technically. But the odds of it – she and Mac had used a condom. She was on the pill, the chances of it should be slim to none.

She sighed and told herself that there was no point worrying about it until she knew for sure.

She was already pretty sure though.

She hadn’t had a period since before she slept with Mac, and he was the only guy she’d slept with since she broke up with her ex, eleven months ago. She hadn’t had sex with anyone else since, either.

So, if she was, you know, then it was Mac’s.

“Bloody brilliant,” she muttered, and tried to force herself to pee in the cup.

She eventually managed to get a viable sample and wrote her name on it. All she had to do now, was get it down to the path lab.

On her way there, she narrowly missed bumping into both Harriet and Joanna, but she was so distracted by hiding from them and her own situation, that she didn’t even consider that they might be there for the same reason as her.

Still, she gave her sample to the receptionist, who seemed to be in a foul mood for some reason, and signed the form required.

All she could do now, was wait.

* * *

After theatre, and the delightful quiz between Mac and Guy, Caroline was busy updating her charts, when she spotted distribution coming around with the internal mail. She saw them place a brown envelope in her pigeonhole. That must be her results then. Or at least, she hoped it was. God forbid it was news of a different kind.

She really didn’t like being kept in suspense.

She waited until distribution had left and then took a deep breath, trying to pluck up the courage she needed to go and check. She got up, and had just retrieved the envelope, when Guy swooped in and demanded to know what she was holding.

“Piss off, it’s none of your business,” she declared. He lunged for it, and she just managed to duck out of his reach. He didn’t stop though, and they ended up with him chasing her all the way to the doctors’ mess. He managed to corner her by the toaster.

“Aha!” He exclaimed and snatched the envelope out of her hands, tearing it open.

“Oi, fucking give that back, right now!” She shouted, trying to grab it back. He held it out of her reach, and she slumped, feeling sick. Perhaps all that running had not been such a good idea.

Mac, who had seen part of the chase, jogged in, just as Guy was reading the contents. “Doctor Caroline Todd…sample test…pregnancy…” Guy looked up at Caroline, horrified. “Fuck, you’re pregnant. Oh, fucking hell. Well, it’s not mine!” He yelled.

Caroline wasn’t really paying attention to him though; she was too embarrassed. She caught Mac’s eyes and could see that he had jumped to the correct conclusions. She couldn’t really read how he was feeling in his face, and suddenly, she didn’t want to be there. Guy had just announced to all and sundry that she was pregnant, and now she was robbed of the chance of breaking it to Mac delicately. She snatched the envelope and results from Guy’s lax fingers and all but ran out of the room.

* * *

Mac was still standing uselessly in the centre of the room, gaping and blinking in confusion.

“Wha…” He couldn’t even finish his sentence.

After a moment, he collected himself, and turned back around. “Caroline!” He called pleadingly.

He looked in a few places he thought she might be, like the ladies toilets. Unfortunately, or fortunately, in fact, they were empty. So at least he wasn’t told off for barging in. Eventually he found her outside, sitting on one of the benches in the hospital gardens. He approached slowly, as if she were a frightened animal.

He saw the moment she noticed him, as she sat up a little straighter, wiping her eyes, the envelope and paper she was still holding crackling in her hands. His heart ached at the sight, the last thing he wanted was to make her cry. Though he comforted himself with the hope that this wasn’t really his fault, but that utter wanker, Guy’s.

He sat down slowly and turned to face her. Hesitantly he reached out for her hand and was incredibly grateful that she didn’t pull away. He paused, not knowing how to ask the question he thought he already knew the answer to, but felt he had to vocalise.

“Caroline, I’m assuming the child – it’s mine.” He stated rather than questioned. She seemed to appreciate his gentle tone, and the fact that he made the first move.

“Yes.” Was all she said, looking down at her lap and away from him.

He squeezed her hand and couldn’t help smiling. Suddenly he realises that she’s started talking again.

“I don’t expect anything – I mean we didn’t plan, I didn’t plan for this, I don’t even know how…” Her voice trailed off, and he felt his smile growing. He couldn’t resist a little joke.

“I think we both know _how…” _He said teasingly, and she looked up and smiled at him. He took a deep breath, and then continued, “I _am_ expecting things Caroline, I would really like it if you would consider keeping the baby, I, well, I want to be involved in it all, if you’ll have me,” he asked hopefully.

Caroline was gazing into his eyes now, looking so grateful and vulnerable, he couldn’t help pulling her into a hug. After a few moments, he drew back, put his hand up to her face, and drew her in for a tender, and heartfelt, kiss.

“OK,” Caroline said, when they drew apart and Mac couldn’t believe his luck, that this woman, this kind, funny, beautiful and clever woman had wandered into his life. He leaned in to kiss those disarmingly soft lips once more.

* * *

Mac and Caroline had decided to keep her child’s paternity secret for as long as they could. God knows they had enough trouble with Guy and Sue already, especially since they'd decided they would tell people they were now going out with each other.

Mac had told Caroline about his history with Holly, and the abortion, because he feared Guy would make some big deal about him only dating her because he wanted to be a father. As hurtful as that insinuation would be, and neither of them believed Guy wouldn’t go there, it could potentially be worse if the truth about how they met came out now.

Also, they just didn’t want to share it with everyone in the hospital at the moment. Mac rightly claimed that their private life was just that and should remain that way. Guy had crossed a line today, and it was about time they all set and enforced some boundaries. Particularly with an innocent child being thrown into the mix.

Mac found he had to check himself though, as he was properly excited. His and Caroline’s child would be here in just under eight months, and he already couldn’t wait to meet them. On the other hand, it was good that they would have time to prepare. He would prefer if they were living together when the baby was born, it would make sharing the responsibility so much easier. His mind was elsewhere for so long, that he didn’t notice that Guy seemed to be avoiding him.

When he did notice, he went out of his way to look for him. He tracked him down at the scene of the crime, nonchalantly eating cereal and trying, unsuccessfully, to flirt with some clearly unimpressed women. He took the chair next to Guy, visibly tense.

“Well?” he asked.

Guy tried to brazen it out, but the little fucker knew exactly why Mac was pissed off. “Well what, you scrawny pouf?”

Mac snapped and shoved Guy’s stupid, twatty head into his cornflakes.

“You’re not a pouf! You’re not a pouf!” Guy tried to yell through the milk. Mac pulled his head back out.

“AND?” He demanded, angrily.

“And? You _are_ a pouf!” He looked to the other people in the room for support but taking his eyes off Mac was a classic mistake. The surgeon grabbed the bow of cereal and slammed it on top of Guys stupid hair. They both jumped up and Mac took up a fighting stance.

“Come on!” He shouted and Guy looked confused.

“Come on, what? What are you doing?” He asked.

Mac glared at him, the little fucker knew exactly what he’d done wrong, but was still trying to bluff his way out of it. Guy shoved Mac back into his seat and ran out of the mess. Mac, who was not going to let him get away with it, gave chase.

It ended with him grabbing a handful of Guy’s hair and leading him back to the doctor’s mess to apologise to Caroline.

“Je suis désolé.” Guy declared. Mac simply slammed his had back into the metal cabinet behind him. Caroline looked singularly unimpressed.

“In English,” Mac demanded, still visibly fuming. Caroline crossed her arms and waited.

“Caroline, I’m really sorry I stole your post and told everyone you’re pregnant.” Guy paused, then stupidly, he added, “are you really up the duff though?”, and Mac slammed his head backwards again. Caroline stormed off, shaking her head and Mac let go of Guy in a huff. He started to walk away, and then turned back to his sometimes friend.

“Oh, and by the way, yeah, Caroline is my girlfriend now, so you better be fucking nice to her. Or else.” He declared, and then he too stormed away.

Guy accidentally slammed his own head back against the metal cabinet and sighed gustily.

“Just fucking great,” he declared.

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this while listening to The Kinks, and also, re-watching the show so I could filch the dialogue.


End file.
